As
we witness the
brutal beating of a retired school teacher, come to New Orleans to
contribute his share to the rebuilding of a broken city, some of us dare
wonder what the citizens of Tikrit, Fallujah, Ramadi and other targeted
communities of Iraq must endure on a daily basis, where there are no civil
authorities, no cameras (except the embedded kind), no civilian oversight
and no judicial recourse.

Police abuse, bias and corruption are
serious problems not only in New Orleans, Chicago, Los Angeles and New
York but in every city, town and village in America where otherwise
ordinary people become enamored with the power of the badge.

How dare these New Orleans cops use the
Katrina disaster as an excuse to beat a man senseless, whose worst
conceivable crime was indifference to the almighty authority of the New
Orleans police? The same District Attorney, who threw the book at the
owners of a nursing home for abandoning their clientele in an unimaginable
catastrophe, had better throw the book at the cops who capitalized on that
same disaster to institute a policy of unrestrained brutality.

It is the history of police lawlessness,
from Boss Tweed and the Daley machine to Serpico, that in the absence of
civilian review, it occurs universally and even when it is addressed it
recycles every ten to twenty years. Law enforcement agencies require
constant civilian oversight or the law of natural corruption will
inevitably apply: Without vigilant and ongoing accountability, power
corrupts.

This nation is long overdue for a
comprehensive review of police practices but in a pervasive climate of
fear, it is considered unpatriotic to question authority. Let there be no
doubt: If the incident in New Orleans were not recorded on tape, despite
the testimony of multiple witnesses, there would be no accountability. The
beaten man would never appear on camera, his story would be never be heard
beyond the courtroom, and he would be victimized again.

What is true of civilian law enforcement is
doubly true of military personnel. The day we yield civilian authority in
our cities and towns is the day we sacrifice freedom forever. Who polices
the police? Who holds the military in check? It would be a monumental
mistake to believe that a military takeover could not happen here. It can
happen anywhere that fear becomes the overriding sentiment. Why did they
disarm the people of New Orleans? If there was disorder in the early days
of the disaster, did this action help or hinder? Why did they shoot dogs
and disarm citizens before they delivered food or water?

When we hear government proposals for
martial law in the event of terrorist attacks, natural disasters or flu
pandemics, it should chill every freedom-loving citizen to the bone. The
government failed in the Gulf Coast not because civilian authorities were
in control but because federal agencies were under-funded, indifferent and
unprepared.

To the advocates of the Second Amendment,
the actions of the government in New Orleans should have been alarming. It
is also a reminder that the government you have supported for decades has
failed its first and most critical test of second amendment rights. The
rightwing Republicans have played you for fools. The right to bear arms
was specifically designed to confront the excesses of government. While I
am not such an advocate and I believe that weaponry should be strictly
controlled and regulated, the events of New Orleans present a clear case
for a well-regulated citizen militia to uphold public order and restore
law.

The parallels to Iraq are striking. There is
clearly no commitment to citizen militias in that war torn region. Why?
Are the people we call the insurgents really the peopleís last line of
defense against a foreign invader? Are they not the civilian defenders of
liberty constitutionally protected by our second amendment?

As difficult as it may be, place yourself in
Iraqi shoes. Try to imagine what you would have done if you were a citizen
of Iraq when the Americans invaded. Given a choice, you would not fight
for Saddam, the great oppressor of your people, but would you fight
against the invaders? When the dictator fell, perhaps you would wait to
see what the Americans would do. As an informed citizen, you would know
the history of destruction and contempt for your people the invaders
represented. When the Americans arrested masses on nothing but the
thinnest veil of suspicion, sent them to Abu Ghraib and tortured them,
would you grow tired of waiting? When the invaders built one after another
massive military installations, belying their promise that they would not
remain in your country indefinitely, would you accept that they had no
intention of leaving?

Maybe I am naÔve but I believe that many of
us would fight the occupation. We would be branded terrorists and enemies
to freedom but we would fight.

No man or woman knows with certainty what he
or she would do in a land that offers only one form of employment:
collaboration with the occupiers. Maybe I am naÔve to think that I would
fight when to do so would endanger my family, friends and associates.
Maybe it is naÔve to think that my family and friends would stand by me in
such a fight. What is the price of life in Baghdad? What is the price of
justice in New Orleans?

It is not inconceivable that the untenable
choices we have forced upon the citizens of Iraq may one day come home to
our cities, towns and villages. Perhaps then we will understand the gift
of liberty and democracy we have delivered to Iraq and Afghanistan.

We must fight tyranny over there so that we
do not have to fight tyranny here at home.

Do not believe it is impossible. When fear
is the dominant motif, tyranny is always possible.

Jack Random
is the author of Ghost Dance Insurrection (Dry Bones Press) the
Jazzman Chronicles, Volumes I and II (City
Lights Books). The Chronicles have been published by
CounterPunch, the Albion Monitor, Buzzle, Dissident
Voice and others. Visit his website:
Random
Jack.